
Class __, 

Book 

Copyrights / 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



The • New • Church 



WHAT 



HOW 



WHY 



George Henry T)ole 



3 5 1 



5 ^ . 



NEW YORK 

THE NEW CHURCH BOARD OF PUBLICATION 
3 West Twenty-Ninth Street 



19 1 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Receives 

JAN. 10 1902 

COPVAKJHT ENTRY 

CLASS ou XXa No. 
COPY B. 






Copyright , iooi, by 
George Henry Dole 



PRESS OF 

BRAUNWORTH & CO. 

BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS 

BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



^ 



The object of this publication is not to expound 
in detail, but merely to proclaim the existence of a 
New Church and what it is in general, that they who 
desire a more satisfactory or definite knowledge of 
spiritual things may be advised where to find it. 

The Author. 



For the 




WRITINGS OF THE NEW CHURCH 


write to 




The American Swedenborg Printing & 


Publishing Society 




3 West Twenty-Ninth St., New York 




SUPPLEMENTARY WRITINGS 




Heaven and Hell . . . $0.50 B $0 M .68 


True Christian Religion . .60 


.94 


Divine Love and Wisdom . .30 


.42 


Divine Providence . . . .40 


.56 


Four Leading Doctrines . .30 


.42 


Conjugial Love . . .40 


.58 


EXEGETICAL WRITINGS 




Arcana Coelestia, 10 vols. ea. .50 


.70 


Apocalypse Revealed, 2 vols. " .40 


.58 


Apocalypse Explained, 6 vols. " .50 


.70 


Summary Exposition of the 




Prophets and Psalms . 


.75 


^Descriptive Catalogues on application 





CONTENTS 



Introduction 3 



THE NEW CHURCH 

I. WHAT 8-13 

i. A New Revelation of Divine Truth . . 14-16 

2. The Word Opened 17-21 

3. The Second Coming of the Lord . . 22-27 

II. HOW 28-50 

1. The Law of Correspondence . . .51-54 

2. Application of the Law to the Word . 55-49 
5. Things Heard and Seen 50-52 

III. WHY 55,54 

1. Its External Form 55,56 

2. Definite Doctrine 57-61 

3. Its Growth 62-64 



Unto Him that loved us 



THE • NEW • CHURCH 



WHAT 



IT may be thought, What need have we 
of a New Church? there are already 
too many denominations. 

We shall soon see that though there 
are many denominations, there is need of a 
New Church now, and that its place is in 
no way filled by any other. 

Often we arrive most quickly at a defin- 
ite conception of a thing by defining what 
it is not. The New Church is not a divi- 
sion of any other church. It is not de- 
rived from any other church. It is not a 
denomination or a sec~t, but a Church. 

The New Church has an independent 
beginning. It stands on its own founda- 
tion. It has its distinct history. An illus- 



10 THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 

tration can quickly give the right idea of 
this. 

In the world's history there have been 
four Churches established by our Heav- 
enly Father, — the Most Ancient Church, 
the Ancient Church, the Israelitish Church, 
and the Apostolic Church. 

When the Ancient Church came to its 
end, and God desired to make a fuller 
preparation for His Advent, the Israelitish 
Church was established. That this might 
be done, Israel was kept in bondage in 
Egypt, and then led into the isolation of 
the wilderness for forty years, that a new 
church might take form and become per- 
manent. The Israelitish Church was not a 
seel: of the Ancient Church, nor was it de- 
rived from it. It was distinctly new, being 
founded upon new revelations, which were 
the laws of Moses. The New Church is 
likewise new. 

Coming to more recent times, with which 
there is more familiarity, we know that when 
the Lord came upon the earth the Israel- 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 1 1 

itish Church was brought to an end. A 
new dispensation was commenced. It was 
founded upon truth newly revealed by the 
Lord, subsequently reduced to writing, and 
extant in the New Testament. The church 
then established by the Lord and His apos- 
tles is the Apostolic Church. Catholics, 
Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, 
Baptists, and Orthodox denominations in 
general are sects of the Apostolic Church. 
That Church was not a division of the Is- 
raelitish Church, or a sect of it, nor was it 
derived from it. The sects of the Israelit- 
ish Church were the Pharisees, Sadducees, 
and Essenes. The Apostolic Church when 
established was an absolutely new church 
coming in fulfillment of prophecy and found- 
ed upon newly revealed truth. It was a 
step higher than the Israelitish Church, and 
separated from it as one round of a ladder 
is distinct from the one below it. 

The New Church comes likewise in ful- 
fillment of prophecy and at the end of the 
former or Apostolic Church. It is also 



12 THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 

a new dispensation, founded upon divine 
truth newly revealed from the Lord out 
of heaven. 

Though the New Church is distin<5t 
from any former Church, there is a cer- 
tain relation ; for each Church comes as a 
part of the Divine plan of human develop- 
ment. The successive Churches are re- 
lated as infancy, childhood, youth, and man- 
hood, or as the roots, branches, leaves, flow- 
ers, and fruits of a tree. The New Church 
is the end for which all former Churches 
existed, just as manhood is the end of in- 
fancy, childhood, and youth. It is the fruit 
on the end of the branch. 

In the Israelitish and Ancient Churches 
God was worshiped as an invisible God. 
In the Apostolic Church He was worshiped 
under the idea of three persons. The New 
Church is to be the crown of all the 
churches that have been, because in it God 
will not be worshiped as an invisible God, 
nor under the idea of three persons, but 
by means of newly revealed truth, the Lord 



THE • NEW • CHURCH —WHAT 13 

Jesus is clearly seen to be the only God 
of heaven and earth, and as such He will 
be worshiped in the New Church. The 
Lord will be worshiped in the New Church 
as He is by the angels in heaven. 

Though the New Church is distinct as 
a church, it does not come in antagonism 
to former churches, but it is supplemental. 
It comes as the Lord did, not to do away 
with the law, but to fulfil the law. It is 
established in fulfillment of prophecy, and 
is described in the Word as the New Je- 
rusalem, which John saw descending from 
God out of heaven. It is called by a new 
name, " New Jerusalem," which the Lord 
hath named. The name of this last new 
church is, therefore, the Church of the 
New Jerusalem. 



14 THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 



/. zA 0\[ew Revelation of Divine Truth 

A new church is always accompanied 
by a new revelation of truth from God 
and the gathering together of a few who 
accept, preserve, and propagate the truth 
and life of it. The Most Ancient Church 
was openly instructed by angels, and so 
had perpetual revelation. The Ancient 
Church had a revelation, of which the book 
of "Jasher," referred to in Joshua, was a 
part. The Israelitish Church was given 
the Old Testament. The Apostolic Church 
had the New Testament. The New Church 
of to-day is likewise the conservator and 
propagator of a new revelation, confined 
to a few at first, but gradually to extend as 
the capacity to receive internal truth and 
form an internal Church developes. 

God is a self-revealing Being. He did 
not create men to serve Him, but that He 
might serve them. From the beginning 
He has given revelation of heavenly and 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 15 

divine things that He might lift human 
kind into a higher and more blessed exist- 
ence. Now in these later days He has 
made another revelation of a most com- 
plete character. This new revelation com- 
prises many volumes. They may be classi- 
fied under two heads. First, Exegetical, 
second, Supplementary. The Exegetical 
primarily explains serially books of the 
Word. The Supplementary reveals fact 
and doctrine necessary to the statement 
and elucidation of the complete system of 
divine truth. 

Among the Exegetical are the Arcana 
Ccelestia, which explains verse by verse 
Genesis and Exodus. Apocalypse Revealed ex- 
plains in a similar way the book of Revela- 
tion. A Summary Exposition of the Internal 
Sense of the Prophets and Psalms, is a 
serial but general explanation of these books 
by groups of verses. 

This class of writings explains fully the 
law according to which the Word is writ- 
ten, and applies the law for the uncovering 



16 THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 

of the internal sense of the Word and 
shows the truth of the law, its workings, 
and its universality, together with the truth 
of the Word itself. 

Among the Supplementary works are 
Heaven and Hell, being a revelation of fact 
and do6lrine appertaining to the subject; 
Divine Love and Wisdom, which is a philo- 
sophical presentation of doctrine; Divine 
Providence, which is doctrinal and philo- 
sophical ; The True Christian Religion, which 
is a compendium of Christian doctrine ; 
Conjugial Love, which treats of the divinely 
intended relation of the sexes and the evils 
of violated order. 

These comprise the books most gener- 
ally recommended to those who have an 
interest in spiritual things and desire to 
acquaint themselves with the subject. 

These with others are the writings of 
of the New Church. 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 17 



2. The Word Opened 

To the two on the way to Emmaus, 
" beginning at Moses and all the prophets," 
the Lord " expounded in all the Scriptures 
the things concerning Himself." After His 
resurrection He appeared to His disciples 
and " opened their understanding, that they 
might understand the Scriptures." From 
these and like passages it was rightly 
taught by the Apostolic Church early in 
its history, and has always been believed 
quite generally, that the Scriptures have 
an internal, spiritual meaning. 

First, the new revelation sets forth this 
very, spiritual meaning. It explains the 
Word so that it may be fully understood 
and seen as a harmonious presentation of 
the infinite, Divine truth. 

Second, it is a revelation of spiritual 
facts and laws, which taken together con- 
stitute a complete system of all moral and 
spiritual doctrine. 



18 THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 

The New Church is therefore, not a 
negative church, but a positive church, 
which has revelations of deeper, divine 
truth. It comes not in the spirit of op- 
position, but proclaiming the glad tidings 
of newly revealed truth that is that very 
Comforter " which shall lead you into all 
truth." 

The spiritual sense of the Word once 
having been known, and what was known 
having become lost, a school of critics has 
arisen saying that the Word is not the 
Word of God, but a history of His Word. 
That it was written when superstition and 
ignorance were rife, and is consequently 
full of errors characteristic of the times and 
of the people who wrote it. The new reve- 
lation of truth shows that there is a serial, 
spiritual sense in the Word running through 
it from beginning to end. The spiritual 
sense is not a vague, inferential, loose mean- 
ing, but it is related by a universal law to 
the letter of the Word with mathematical 
accuracy. In fact, the spiritual sense of 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 19 

the Word now revealed, is related to the 
letter of the Word by a law of so high 
and divine a character that when under- 
stood it proves that " The Lord gave the 
Word," though "great was the company 
that published it." It shows it to be a 
book that only the Creator Himself could 
frame. For it has an organized internal, 
causing it to differ from any other book 
as much as a human body differs from a 
statue hewn in marble. 

The spiritual sense of the Word is re- 
lated to the letter not artificially, but by 
a law that no man could invent, for it is 
the very law of creation itself. It is such 
a relation as exists between the lungs and 
the air, or the eye and the ether, or grief 
and tears, or joy and smiles, or the soul 
and the body. The law is profound and 
deep, yet simple and self-interpretive, when 
understood somewhat, because it is natural. 
In the light of it, the Word is seen to be 
an inexhaustible reservoir of divine truth, 
the infinite truth itself, the veritable taber- 



20 THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 

nacle of God wherein He dwells, and sends 
forth as from Urim and Thummim the 
light and love of heaven. 

In the light of the law of the relation 
between the spiritual meaning and the let- 
ter, the Word is known to be formed by 
the Lord for the very purpose that it may 
be His instrument through which He can 
be present with mankind on earth and 
teach of Himself and heaven for all time. 
It is shown to be a form whereby the Lord 
conjoins angels and men to Himself. And 
now that the Word is completed and 
opened, the light that will come into the 
world will be manifold that heretofore re- 
ceived. The Word, which was a sealed 
book because the law of its composition 
was not known, is now opened. Hereto- 
fore the faith of mankind has been like that 
of a child, which believes because the pa- 
rent says so. Now the faith of the Church 
is to be like that of a man who believes 
because he sees for himself that it is so. 

The New Church therefore stands not 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 21 

only for a new revelation of divine truth 
from the Lord out of heaven, given in ful- 
fillment of prophecy, but also for the entry 
intellectually into the things of faith, made 
possible through that revelation. The faith 
of the Church on earth will no longer be 
a faith of darkness, but a faith of light. 
Faith will now be exalted from confidence 
to sight. 



2-2 THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 



3. The Second Coming of the Lord 

Now we are to state another thing in 
regard to what the New Church is that 
may seem surprising, but let us remember 
that " Great and marvelous are Thy works, 
Lord God Almighty." 

This new revelation of heavenly truth 
constitutes the Second Coming of the Lord. 
It is the promised " Comforter " that shall 
abide with us forever. It is the embodi- 
ment of the " spirit of truth " that will guide 
into all truth. It enables us to see no 
more " through a glass darkly " but " face 
to face," and to know not only "in part" 
but " even as also we are known." Whereas 
we have walked by a faith that did not see, 
we shall now walk by a faith that sees. 
For the prophecy is now fulfilled, " The 
time cometh when I will no more speak 
unto you in parables, but I will show you 
plainly of the Father." 

Forty days after the crucifixion Jesus 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 23 

appeared to His disciples, and when He 
had blessed them, He was seen to ascend 
until the clouds enveloped Him. While 
they stood gazing steadfastly into the sky 
where He seemed to -disappear, an angel 
stood by and said that as they had seen 
Him ascend, so He would descend. From 
this some have thought that the Lord 
would come again in the material clouds 
and in a material way. To know how He 
was to come we must know how He as- 
cended. 

The Lord after His crucifixion appeared 
not by assuming a material body, but by 
opening the vision to see Him in the spir- 
itual world, for God is a Spirit. 

No angel or spirit can be seen by the 
natural eyes. Since the Lord appeared by 
opening the inner vision, He disappeared by 
closing it. His apparent ascension into the 
sky was an appearance from the gradual 
closing of the spiritual sight. When that 
was entirely closed, He disappeared. We 
may know this if we stop to think, for 



24 THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 

heaven is not up in the sky, but up in life. 
" The kingdom of heaven is within." 

Now since the Lord ascended by clos- 
ing the inner vision, He will come again 
in the same way — by opening the inner 
vision ; by rolling back the clouds that 
obscure the knowledge of Him. 

Further, that the Infinite might reveal 
Himself to the finite in verbal declarations, 
it was necessary that He should speak in 
terms of a language known to man. He 
was obliged to use words and ideas with 
which the finite is familiar. So in form- 
ing the Word that perpetually reveals Him, 
He had to take human words and ideas. 
Often He spoke not according to reality, 
but as things appeared to man. Otherwise 
there would have been no approach to 
man and no conjunction with him. The 
letter of the Word is therefore formed of 
words, language, and ideas taken from hu- 
man minds. These words, language, and 
ideas constitute the letter of the Word, 
and form a covering of the thought and 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 25 

life of God within. It forms an approach 
of God to man, and necessarily veils the 
truth and life of God, who is within the 
Word as its internal. The letter of the 
Word is like a cloud that obscures the 
sun, or like the atmosphere that receives 
and tempers to the body the consuming 
heat and light of the sun. The letter of 
the Word is the clouds of heaven because 
when not understood or misconstrued it 
obscures the heavenly things within and 
the Lord. The Second Coming of the 
Lord occurred through His coming in 
these clouds of heaven, the letter of the 
Word. There this same Jesus, by remov- 
ing mental clouds, and the consequent op- 
ening of man's vision to Himself in the let- 
ter of the Word, comes again to abide 
with us forever. 

This is such a coming that two can be 
in one bed, or grinding together at the 
mill, or in the same field, and one be taken 
and the other left. One may see in light 
like the lightning that shineth from the 



26 THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 

east unto the west, while the other remains 
in outer darkness. 

The Second Coming of the Lord is 
spiritual, not physical. We must guard 
against having the same material concep- 
tions of the Second Coming of the Lord 
that the Jews had of His first advent. 
The Writings of the New Church reveal 
the Lord in the Word, both as to His Di- 
vinity and Humanity, and bring us face to 
face with Jesus Christ there. They there- 
fore constitute the Second Coming of the 
Lord to the world. 

The New Church is the last Church to 
be established on the earth by the Lord, 
for in it is fulfilled all prophecy. There 
will be no need of another Church, because 
all truth is now revealed and committed 
unto the promised Church of the New 
Jerusalem. 

What, then, is the New Church ? 

The New Church stands, first, for a 
new revelation of all truth from the Lord 
out of heaven. Second, for the Divine 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHAT 27 

Word opened, whereby it is seen to be a 
repository of infinite, divine truth and the 
means of conjoining- men and angels to the 
Lord forever. Third, for the entry intel- 
lectually into the things of faith, life, heav- 
en, and the Lord. Fourth, for the Second 
Coming of the Lord as already having 
taken place in the world through a new 
revelation of all, divine truth and of the 
Lord in the Word. Fifth, for the final 
church promised by the Lord, named by 
Him "the New Jerusalem," and described 
by John as "the New Jerusalem descend- 
ing from God out of heaven." 

Such stupendous claims as these, with 
a declaration of the Church that it has the 
actual, rational, and spiritual evidence of 
its assertions, ought not only to arrest the 
attention of one here and there, but to 
move every one having a remnant of affec- 
tion for the truth to a thorough, impartial, 
and prayerful investigation of the facts. 



II 

HOW 

IN ancient times, when the Lord desired 
to make His will known He chose an 
angel, filled him with His spirit and 
presence, and sent him on the Divine er- 
rand. Such a one is called in the Word 
" the angel of the Lord." When by angels 
He could no longer well effecl: His pur- 
pose, He chose a prophet, and gave him 
what He should say, do, and write. When 
He desired to come on earth in the flesh 
at the first advent, He chose a woman to 
provide Him a body of flesh in which He 
might dwell and reveal His nature. In 
more recent times, when He desired to 
break the seals of His Word, He chose a 
man through whose mind and hand He 
might make known His new revelation, 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 29 

Emanuel Swedenborg was chosen for this 
purpose. 

Let us not think this exceptional. For 
also when the Lord desired to establish 
the Israelitish Church, He chose Moses and 
instructed him, that he might teach and 
lead the people. Again, when He desired 
to establish the Apostolic Church, He chose 
the Apostles, instructed them and sent them 
out to teach and preach. When He de- 
sired any book of the Word to be written, 
He chose a man to write it. It is perfectly 
in accord with His known way that He 
should choose a man to pen the new rev- 
elation of truth for His last Church. 

Swedenborg lived from 1688 to 1772. 
About 1745 his spiritual sight was opened, 
as were the eyes of Elisha's servant when 
he was given to see the mountain round 
about Elisha full of horses and chariots ; 
and as John's were, when, in the Isle of 
Patmos, he saw the heavenly things of Rev- 
elation. But Swedenborg's vision was open 
longer and more fully. Though living in 



30 THE • NEW ■ CHURCH — HOW 

the body in this world, he at the same 
time for about twenty-seven years lived in 
the spiritual world, and conversed with 
spirits and angels there as one of their 
number. In this way he became acquaint- 
ed with the order, laws, and life of the 
spiritual world as we are with this world. 
This was a mode of instruction and prepar- 
ation for the work that he was chosen to 
do. What Swedenborg wrote in pursuance 
of this preparation constitutes the new 
revelation of truth from the Lord out of 
heaven, and is commonly called the Writ- 
ings of the New Church. They are not 
from himself, nor any man, spirit, or angel, 
but from the Lord alone through the in- 
strumentality of Swedenborg's mind and 
hand, which fact their character fully at- 
tests. 



THE ■ NEW • CHURCH — HOW 31 



/. The Law of Correspondence 

The Word is written according to the 
law of relation between things natural and 
things spiritual. This relation is the Law 
of Correspondence. According to it spirit- 
ual things flow into, communicate with, and 
sustain natural things. It is the very law 
according to which creation itself took 
place and is now sustained. 

This law being applied to the Word 
shows that the Word is written in pursu- 
ance of it, and is thereby so composed that 
all things of heaven and God are in the 
Word. 

To expound this law adequately would 
require more space than we can here give. 
Possibly the briefest way to present an idea 
of it is by a general statement of its fun- 
damental principles and a few illustrations 
by the application of them to the Word. 

First, there are two great divisions of 
the created universe, the natural world and 



51 THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 

the spiritual world. The natural world and 
its laws and particular forms are exactly 
like the spiritual world and its laws and 
particular forms, only with this difference, 
that the natural world is material while 
the spiritual world is spiritual. 

Let us illustrate in particular. In na- 
ture there is a sun that sends out heat and 
light. All nature is sustained by the sun. 
In the spiritual world there is a sun also. 
From it comes heat and light, and all life 
in the spiritual world is sustained by it. 
But in the spiritual world the Lord is the 
sun. The heat that flows from it is love ; 
its light is truths So it is written, " The 
city has no need of the sun nor of the 
moon to shine in it, for the glory of God 
did lighten it and the Lamb is the light 
thereof." The sun in nature is material 
and its heat and light are material, but in 
the spiritual world the sun is spiritual be- 
cause God is a spirit, and the heat and 
light are spiritual because love and truth 
are spiritual. 



THE • NEW • CHUkCH — HOW 33 

Again, we have conceived of the natu- 
ral world with its sun shining upon it as 
the very picture of the spiritual world with 
the Lord shining upon it with love and 
wisdom. Now think of the natural uni- 
verse as the external clothing of the spir- 
itual world and sustained by it part for 
part, and the basis of the law of correspond- 
ence will be laid. For the natural world 
and its particular forms are but material 
clothing of corresponding spiritual forms 
or forces from which they exist. 

To illustrate, man has a material body 
in the natural world sustained by heat and 
light from the sun. Within the material 
body part for part is the soul, made of 
spiritual substances and perpetually bathed 
by the heat and light of the spiritual world, 
which are love and wisdom from the Lord. 
Yet while his body is in nature sustained 
by heat and light from the sun, and his 
soul is in the spiritual world likewise un- 
der its sun, the spiritual body is within the 
material body giving life and power to it 



54 THE • NEW ■ CHURCH — HOW 

and every part. In fact, the natural uni- 
verse is an outbirth of the spiritual world, 
and is sustained by it just as the body is 
formed and sustained by the soul within. 

So also just as the body is sustained 
from the soul, just as the natural world is 
sustained from the spiritual world, the 
spiritual world is sustained by the Lord. 

Now, that law of relation which exists 
between the soul and the body, between 
the spiritual Avorld and the natural world, 
between the Lord and the spiritual world ; 
that law of relation which exists between 
the Creator and all created things, by 
means of which life and power flow into 
created forms from the One Fountain of 
life, is the Law of Correspondence. 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 35 



2. ^Application of the Law to the Word 

The law is best understood in its ap- 
plication. In a theme so vast, only a few 
brief and most limited illustrations can be 
give here. First we will observe its appli- 
cation in particular instances, and then in 
a more general way. 

The natural body must have bread and 
water from the earth to sustain it. The 
spirit must have bread and water from the 
spiritual world to sustain it. The " bread 
which cometh down from God out of 
heaven and giveth life unto the world," is 
love, from which alone we can have real 
life in our spirits. The water which the 
Lord gives that becomes " a well of water 
springing up into everlasting life," is truth 
from the Lord, which not only quenches 
the thirst for knowledge, but also like wa- 
ter washes from defiling evils and makes 
the heart pure. We are momentarily de- 
pendent for true thoughts and good affec- 



36 THE ■ NEW • CHURCH - HOW 

tions upon truth and love — the water and 
bread of the spirit — from the Lord. The 
spiritual body lives from the spiritual world 
spiritually, just as the natural body lives 
from the natural world naturally. In short, 
nature with its particular forms and laws 
is a parable of the spiritual w^orld of cor- 
responding forms and laws from which the 
former derives existence. 

In forming the Word, the Lord, who 
alone knew this relation because He creat- 
ed things and sustains them, followed this 
law. That is, He uses man's names of 
natural things for His names of spiritual 
things, pursuant to the law of correspond- 
ence. 

Bread sustains the body. Goodness 
from the Lord does the same for the soul. 
So the Lord uses our name of bodily food 
for His name of spiritual food. He calls 
His goodness bread. " This is the bread 
that cometh down from God out of heaven." 

Water quenches thirst. It is the great 
cleansing element. Truth quenches mental 



THE ■ NEW • CHURCH — HOW 37 

thirst, and is the cleansing element of the 
soul, for only by knowledge can we con- 
trol disease or shun evils. Truth may be 
in the form of a great science, vast like a 
sea. It may be the truth current in our 
civil institutions or in our daily lives, when 
it is like rivers. It may come from a deep 
affection for truth itself, and be like a per- 
ennial spring. It may come as if out of 
the atmosphere, like the dew, and refresh 
us in our daily toil. In fact, truth may 
take as many forms as water does upon 
the earth. So the Lord uses man's names 
of water in its various forms as His names 
of corresponding forms of truth. So He 
says, " My doctrine shall drop as the rain, 
my speech shall distil as the dew, as the 
small rain upon the tender herb, and as 
the showers upon the grass." " There is a 
river whose streams thereof shall make glad 
the city of God." 

There is no good thing that does not 
have its opposite, for evil is but perverted 
good. The same word that is used to de- 



38 THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 

note a good or true thing is used also as 
the name of the opposite evil. The Lord 
said, " Beware of the leaven of the Phari- 
sees," by which He meant not their bread, 
but their false doctrines. 

Again, it is written, " The floods have 
come in unto my soul," " but the Lord is 
mightier than the noise of many waters, 
yea, than the mighty waves of the sea." 
Here we notice that the floods mean the 
false doctrine of worldliness. 

Love is called fire, because love warms 
the heart. But the heart may be heated 
in rage, which heat is called hell lire. The 
context clearly shows whether a virtue is 
meant or that virtue perverted, which is 
its opposite. So throughout the Word as 
to every jot and tittle. 

Now let us observe the law of corre- 
spondence in its application to a continu- 
ous portion of Scripture. 

Genesis is not intended to describe the 
creation of the material heaven and earth. 
The earth herself is a book having her 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 59 

history written upon the pages of her 
strata more fully than pen can tell. Man 
can search out for himself the history of 
the earth's formation. God makes revela- 
tion of such things as man can not find out 
for himself by searching. Though the let- 
ter of the Word contains the words of 
man in the form of allegory, parable, his- 
tory, song, prophecy, and fact, it is from 
beginning to end a Divine parable reflect- 
ing through its letter spiritual things. 

" In the beginning " is the commence- 
ment of man's regeneration, for the Word 
treats of spiritual things. 

" God created the heavens and the 
earth " tells us of the two natures in every 
one, a heavenly nature in correspondence 
with heaven, and an earthly nature in cor- 
respondence with the world. " The earth 
was without form and void " is descriptive 
of the lower nature of man before regener- 
ation. The creation of light is the spirit 
of God first wakening man to the con- 
sciousness of heavenly things, which light 



40 THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 

is spiritual. The first day is the first step 
in regeneration, the first awakening to the 
knowledge of the existence of heavenly 
things. 

He divides "the waters under the fir- 
mament from the waters above the firma- 
ment" when man distinguishes between 
what is of the world and what is of heaven. 
This is the second day or second step in 
the creation of a spiritual man. 

This, " Let the waters under the heaven 
be gathered together and let the dry land 
appear," is when man collects knowledge 
of heavenly things, his character being yet 
unproductive as dry land. In this state he 
sees his needs, and commences to think 
and a6t- religiously. The things that then 
first come into his character, such as 
thoughts of right, good actions, and repent- 
ance, are the grass, the herbs, and the tree 
yielding fruits of repentance. This is the 
third state in regenerating. 

On the fourth day the sun, moon, and 
stars were created The sun is God's love 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 41 

that then is felt in power. The moon is 
faith derived from that love as the moon 
derives its light from the sun. The stars 
are heavenly truths. The fourth state of 
regeneration is when love, faith, and heav- 
enly truths are set in the firmament of the 
mind to shed their heat and light down 
upon the earth of man's nature. 

Then when these luminaries are set in 
the heaven of man's nature to rule in his 
day states and night states, truths become 
vivified and he delights in them. Such 
truths are typified by the fishes of the sea 
and the fowls of the air, and by all that 
the waters brought forth. This is the fifth 
state of regeneration. 

The sixth day the beasts were created. 
These highest forms of animal life typify 
the affections or living things in man. The 
sixth state of regeneration is when the 
affections are of faith and animated with 
love from the Lord. 

Then when man has gained dominion 
over the beasts of the field, the fowls of 



42 THE • NEW • CHURCH - HOW 

the air, the fishes of the sea and every 
creeping thing, which are words for corre- 
sponding mental things, or natural affec- 
tions and thoughts, it is the seventh day 
or holy sabbath of the spirit. The seventh 
day man had been created in the image 
and likeness of God, for by passing suc- 
cessively through these stages, he is re- 
generated and becomes thereby an image 
and likeness of God. 

This is but the barest outline of what 
the first chapter of Genesis teaches with 
all detail and fullness. By the language 
there used, because nature is a parable of 
man, and "the invisible things from the 
foundation of the world are clearly seen by 
the things that are made/' the story opens 
up with unfathomable depth and divine 
beauty. This is true not only of Genesis, 
but throughout the Word, and appears 
when we see how the Lord clothes spiritual 
ideas in the words and language of man- 
kind. 

Take these same words and apply them 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 43 

to another part of the Word, and they 
will be observed to be used with the same 
meaning and in a similar way. 

Note the much discussed passage taken 
from the book of Jasher belonging to a 
lost Word, " Sun, stand thou still upon 
Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of 
Ajalon." This was not a violation of nat- 
ural law, the disarrangement of the universe 
for a small body of fighting men, but it is 
a parable of great spiritual facts as surely 
as is the story of the Prodigal Son. 

The battle Joshua was fighting stands 
for one that we fight in temptation. The 
sun and the moon standing still, is the 
continuance of love and faith in our strug- 
gle in spiritual night and battle that the 
victory of redemption may be won. 

Again, we read in A els, that on the 
day of Pentecost was the fulfillment of 
the prophecy of Joel, " the sun should be 
turned to darkness and the moon into 
blood before that great and notable day of 
the Lord." This did not mean the literal 



44 THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 

obliteration of the sun and moon, but the 
destruction of love and faith, which did 
occur. 

Apply the same law of interpretation 
to Revelation where the same words oc- 
cur, " A woman clothed with the sun and 
the moon under her feet, and upon her 
head a crown of twelve stars." We have 
no difficulty in interpreting man's picture 
of the state of the church or of the world. 
He pictures it as a woman half clad, cling- 
ing to a cross, looking up in agony to a 
heaven of black, lightning-riven clouds, with 
a few rays of light breaking through, and 
at her feet is the storm-beaten, threaten- 
ing sea. We know that in this picture the 
woman clinging to the cross and gazing 
upward is temptation. The clouds are 
our obscurity, the little light is our hope, 
the threatening sea is the world of sin. 
The picture is man's own representation of 
the Church as it is. Can we not likewise 
read the Lord's picture of the Church or 
state of faith that is to be? 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 45 

Throw this pi6lure upon the blue sky 
as the back ground, "A woman clothed 
with the sun, the moon under her feet, and 
upon her head a crown of twelve stars," 
and you will have the Lord's representa- 
tion of an enlightened faith and Church. 
The woman is the Lamb's bride, the Church, 
the mother by whom under God we are 
born again. 

The woman clothed with the sun, is 
the Church clothed with the love of God as 
its habit. The moon under her feet is the 
Church established upon truth derived 
from love. The crown of twelve stars is 
the Church possessed of all spiritual truths 
as the regal principle. Continuing, the 
man child to be born is the Church preg- 
nant with manly principles of life, or in 
other words, because God is a man, the 
man child is a complete system of divine, 
human doctrine. The dragon standing be- 
fore the woman to destroy the child, is 
the world of sin. The flood of waters is 
false reasonings from the dragon, which is 



46 THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 

they who wage war against them " which 
keep the commandments of God and have 
the testimony of Jesus Christ." That the 
woman is to be nourished in the wilder- 
ness, tells us that the Church, by which is 
meant heavenly love and faith in human 
ministration, will be strengthened in its 
obscurity and dearth until it shall grow 
strong and increase, preparatory to bring- 
ing mankind into a wise, loving, and holy 
life. 

Do we not now begin to see how the 
Word is written in God's language clothed 
in man's words? Do we not see that it is 
possible for the Word to open up to im- 
penetrable depths and inexpressible glory? 
Do we not see that it may be so written 
as to flash forth all truth, not vaguely, but 
definitely? For the Word is not only a 
parable in parts, but from beginning to 
end it is a continued parable setting forth 
in perfect order all heavenly truths. 

Some truths are clearly stated and seen 
in the letter of the Word. The obscure 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 47 

parts become translucent by the applica- 
tion of the law of correspondence accord- 
ing to which Scripture is written. 

We can give here but one more in- 
stance of the application of the law to an 
extensive portion of the Word. This must 
be very general. 

The story of the Israelites in Egyptian 
bondage, their deliverance, the journey in 
the wilderness, and final entrance into the 
Promised Land, though historically true, is 
none the less a parable. The Lord de- 
sired to reveal His relation to mankind, to 
show the relation of right and wrong to 
man obedient and disobedient. For this 
purpose He chose the Israelites and led 
them upon the great world as a stage for 
many years that He might dramatize the 
story of man's redemption. 

Because the Egyptians, though skilled 
in science, were external and worldly, they 
stand for that bondage to sin in which 
they were and in which man is born. 
The long journey to the Holy Land is our 



4$ THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 

experience in life's battle against allure- 
ments and evils. The Hivites, Amorites, 
Hittites, and hostile tribes, stand for the 
specific evils and falsities in man which re- 
spectively dominated them. The wilderness 
is spiritual barrenness and discouragement, 
the failure of water and bread, is dearth of 
truth and love in the mind and heart. The 
Holy Land where David subdued the ene- 
mies of Israel, and Solomon reigned in 
glory, is our redemption when we have 
gained the victory over our spiritual ene- 
mies and are come into the glory of the 
promised kingdom of the Lord. 

The Gospels tell us of the incarnation 
of God in Christ, the life of the Lord on 
earth, His subjugation of the hells, His 
glorification and unition with the Father. 
It is all literally true and real. But it is 
also a parable of grand spiritual facts and 
laws. For like the Lord every truth that 
comes to man is begotten of the Father, is 
conceived in virgin affection, is wrapped 
in the swaddling clothes of natural ideas, 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 49 

is laid in the manger of the memory, 
grows and waxes strong in the grace of 
God to self assertion, is crucified in temp- 
tation, is buried in the sepulchre of world- 
liness before it rises to reign in power and 
glory over our lives. 

So the Word from beginning to end is 
to be read not as a production of man, but 
as the Word of God, teaching not histor- 
ical truths, but spiritual truths, not loosely 
or by vague, uncertain inference, but with 
mathematical accuracy and definiteness. 
For all its teachings, when seen in the 
light of correspondence, are confirmed by 
every reason that is and are denied by 
none. 

The letter of the Word then becomes 
like a translucent stone, reflecting divine 
truth from the Lord just as a gem does 
the colors that are in the sun. 



50 THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 



3. Things Heard and Seen 

In addition to the class of writings that 
explain the Word, which Ave have called 
Exegetical, there are the Supplementary 
writings. These set forth not only the 
true philosophy of nature and spirit, the 
laws of Divine Providence, the do6lrine of 
life, the constitution of the natural uni- 
verse, but also they present the funda- 
mental facts appertaining to the spiritual 
world and life there. 

We can not in this short space repro- 
duce these things here, for they should be 
examined in the entirety and completeness 
of their original presentation. 

The spiritual world is no longer a mys- 
tery. Having lived consciously in the spir- 
itual world for twenty-seven years, Swed- 
enborg was prepared to tell about that 
world as would a traveller from a foreign 
land. 

It is often said that we can not know 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — HOW 51 

any thing about the spiritual world, be- 
cause no one has ever returned to tell us 
about it. The Lord has now made this 
statement untrue. That we might know 
about it, He prepared one so that he went 
to and came back from the spiritual world 
many times. For, through the providence 
of the Lord, he was prepared and so con- 
stituted that he lived consciously and 
really in the spiritual world, and could min- 
gle with spirits and angels. From such 
experience and association, what he reveals 
as having seen was not seen in vision or 
dream, but actually as we see and learn 
the things of this world, and as angels 
learn the things of the spiritual world. 
Swedenborg by the direction of Provid- 
ence wrote down for the Church on earth 
the things heard and seen. Not only are 
these rational and interesting, but they 
throw great light upon the Word. For 
that holy book is written with full impli- 
cation of the spiritual world being as 
Swedenborg has described it. He gives us 



52 THE ^ NEW • CHURCH — HOW 

the three great divisions of that world, 
Heaven, Hell, and the Intermediate World 
of Spirits. He shows the relation that these 
bear to each other, which the Word implies. 
He discloses their relation to man and to 
this world, which relation the Word clearly 
assumes. What is written in this regard 
is rational, consistent with all we know and 
in harmony with the Word. In facl; the 
Word is so written that in it is every 
truth of do6lrine, consequently every truth 
of doctrine stated in the Writings of the 
Church can be found there. What is 
written in this regard, to the spiritual 
minded, proves the Word and the Word 
proves it. 



Ill 
WHY 

THE New Church is now instituted be- 
cause that stage of human develop- 
ment is reached when a new and 
spiritual era can be entered. 

When the Lord was upon earth He 
said, " I have many things to say unto 
you, but ye can not bear them now." 
Then mankind was not able to receive or 
comprehend a full disclosure of divine 
truth. There was no interest in spiritual 
things. The Lord came with a spiritual 
kingdom of spiritual glory and power, but 
the world wanted a natural kingdom of 
physical glory and power. So it crucified 
Him who stood for spiritual law, life, and 
power. Yet the beginning was instituted, 
and preparation was made by revelation 



54 THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHY 

of truth given in the Lord's time. This 
preparation then made was but partial, be- 
cause the revelation of truth could not, on 
account of the internal states of the world, 
be made in its fullness. The truths then 
revealed became obscured, resulting in the 
church splitting into antagonistic sects. 
This brought to realization the need of a 
clear and full revelation of divine truth. 

Therefore now the Second Coming is 
made by new revelation of truth, opening 
fully the Word, wherein is all truth. The 
world has its well-ordered governments, 
guaranteeing justice, liberty, and freedom 
of conscience, and is beginning to desire 
for practical purposes a knowledge of in- 
ternal and heavenly law. This is the es- 
sential basis for a spiritual kingdom, which 
the New Church is to proclaim and to be. 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHY 55 

I. Its External Form 

We are accustomed to think of a church 
as a class of people united upon a creed, 
like the Methodist church, the Episcopal 
church, and the Catholic church. 

Yet these are not Churches, but they 
are different sects of one Church, which is 
the Apostolic Church. A Church primar- 
ily is a form of goodness and truth from 
the Lord in the lives of men. When a 
new dispensation occurs, a new form of 
good and truth is revealed. This truth 
and good from the Lord constitute a 
Church. To preserve and propagate a 
new form of truth and good, it is neces- 
sary that there be some who receive that 
truth and good, and keep it distinct from 
the former forms of faith. There are es- 
sential to a Church, therefore, new revela- 
tion of divine truth and good, and a 
body of men and women who receive them, 
stand for them, and teach them. This ne- 
cessitates the organization of an external 

LofC. 



56 THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHY 

body having its ministry who teach, its soci- 
eties for worship and the cultivation in lib- 
erty of its distinctive life, and all the offices 
of use appertaining to an organized Church. 
To this end the New Church is organ- 
izing, educating its ministers, forming so- 
cieties, instituting schools and colleges, and 
endeavoring to teach, to live, and to form 
the life according to the truths of the New 
Dispensation of Heavenly Revelation. The 
proclamation of the Second Coming of the 
Lord through the opening of His Word, 
the salvation of mankind through the 
power of the Lord in truth intellectually 
wielded, the presence of God face to face 
with man in the tabernacle of His Word, 
a heretofore unknown sanctity of His love 
in the heart, make the New Church differ- 
ent internally from any former church, and 
oblige it to have its distinct, external or- 
ganization and form, similar outwardly to 
former churches, but internally different, 
from the quality of its faith and life that 
is to be developed and extended, 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHY 57 



2. Definite T)o&rine 

The New Church comes, not only re- 
affirming old truth, but to affirm new truth, 
truth more interior and never before re- 
vealed. " Behold, I make all things new." 
So complete is this revelation that it gives 
access to all truth, which never before has 
been provided. It is therefore the most 
perfect and glorious revelation that has 
ever been made. It is the good wine saved 
until the last, when the marriage supper of 
the Lamb is come. 

Heretofore the states of developing man 
have been such that only partial truths 
have been made known. Truth has been 
held back because the development needed 
to make it useful had not occurred. In 
Scripture language it has been true of in- 
terior truths, "Ye cannot bear them now." 

However glorious was the mission and 
noble the work of the former Church, its 
faith was and is necessarily an undeveloped 



58 THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHY 

faith, a faith akin to a hope for what was 
not known. Now faith is to be an intelli- 
gent faith, that sees by means of definite 
and mathematical do6lrine. In the Ancient 
Church and in the Apostolic Church, God 
was not clearly understood. A mystery 
was a part of their faith. 

In the New Church, mystery is cleared 
away. Here is definite doctrine that ena- 
bles one to see clearly the essentials of 
faith. This church is shown plainly of the 
Godhead. It has definite doctrine, making 
clear, rational, and intelligible the founda- 
tion of religion, which is a right idea of 
God. 

The fundamental doctrine of the New 
Church is that there is one God, that the 
Lord Jesus Christ is that God. In Him 
is a trinity, not of persons, but of essen- 
tials, called the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Spirit, represented in man, who is 
the image of God, by the soul, the body, 
and the proceeding life. Such as is one's 
idea of God, so is his whole religion. 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHY 59 

This fundamental truth being- clearly re- 
vealed, the nature of God as a Divine 
Human Being is comprehended. This in 
turn makes intelligible what man is, and 
his ordained relation to God and to man. 
Out of these unfolds the Lord's purpose 
with man here and hereafter. 

There is definite doctrine in regard to 
the law that rules over man as a natural 
and a spiritual being. The natural world 
and life become clear to the understanding, 
and the spiritual world is comprehended as 
really and intelligently as is the natural. 

The office of the Church is made known 
as the preserver of the Word of the Lord, 
the teacher of truth revealed from Him, 
and the saver of souls as a minister of the 
Lord. 

Baptism is revealed to be a Divine pro- 
vision for introduction into the Church on 
earth, and at the same time insertion among 
Christians in the spiritual world. Its uses 
as an aid to regeneration are clearly made 
known. 



60 THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHY 

The institution of the Lord's Supper 
as a help to regenerating man, a means of 
the Lord's presence, association with an- 
gels, and conjunction with the Lord, are 
rationally unfolded. 

Repentance, which is essentially the 
shunning of evil, learning the truth, and 
doing what truth teaches, is philosophic- 
ally set forth. 

Salvation, which is the subjugation of 
evil in ourselves by the Lord's presence 
and power, is intelligibly explained. 

In the full revelation of truth, there is 
now at hand and accessible to the final 
Church every do6lrine and truth of doc- 
trine, rationally and satisfactorily explained. 
Every provision is now made in this 
Church for the enlightenment, regenera- 
tion and salvation of mankind. 

The Word is fully opened so that it is 
seen to be from God alone, and so made 
that He communes with man and reveals 
Himself fully by it and by it alone. 

In the full revelation of the nature of 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHY 61 

heaven and hell, the wisdom and the love 
of God, the destiny of man and of the na- 
ture of the Heavenly Father, new motives 
for spiritual living are awakened, and all 
spiritual thirst and hunger can be satiated 
at living fountains of water. 



62 THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHY 



3. Its Growth 

Other Churches have come and gone, 
but the New Church is the final Church. 
It will never pass away or be superseded 
because unto it there is the revelation of 
all truth which gives access to all life. 
In it the Lord will be worshipped as He 
is in heaven, and the increase of His gov- 
ernment will know no end through the 
spiritual development and regeneration of 
men and women who are of it. 

The growth of the New Church will be 
slow, because its growth is not accomplished 
merely by the addition of numbers, but by 
the development of spiritual thought, affec- 
tion and life. Nor can the efforts of man 
alone extend it, for its healthy increase is 
founded upon the opening of the mind to 
comprehend intellectually the things of 
heaven and God. The Lord alone does 
this as He sees that man can be kept in 
the life of heavenly enlightenment to the 



THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHY 6) 

end, which depends upon the quality of 
affection for truth. 

The growth of the New Church, though 
slow, will be sure and permanent. For its 
increase is not from masses of people 
moved by persuasion, excitement or emo- 
tion to accept a statement of faith, but 
from the calm and resolute judgment made 
through enlightened reason and the insight 
into truth that comes from a love of its 
good. 

Its growth depends also upon another 
factor, which makes it sure and orderly. 
A new church depends upon a new heaven 
which must be formed in the spiritual 
world to a<5t as the soul of the New 
Church upon the earth. 

Heaven is so related to the earth that 
as the Church in heaven increases by the 
addition of regenerating people passing 
from the earth, the Church upon earth will 
grow. 

In reality there is but one kind of 
Church growth that is to be cared for, or 



64 THE • NEW • CHURCH — WHY 

that is possible, and that is the growth of 
the character and spirit, the wisdom and 
love of the Lord Jesus in the minds and 
hearts of men. 

For this growth the New Church stands, 
and commends for its accomplishment the 
daily reading of the Word, the Writings 
of the New Dispensation, and the govern- 
ment of the individual life in accordance 
thereto. The Church assures all who will 
do so, that their faith will be illumined 
until doubt turns into mental sight and an 
unknown and unconceived blessing of di- 
vine joy will be given, which is as "the 
days of heaven upon the earth." 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 
1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



